American Behavior Health Systems manager discusses prevention, healing after suicide

ROYAL CITY — Suicide can be stopped. It should be talked about. And anyone can prevent it.

That was the advice given by Julie Rickard, a program manager with American Behavior Health Systems in Wenatchee, to a packed auditorium at Royal Middle School on Wednesday evening April 25.

“Smaller communities have to get past the culture of not talking about things. We fear conversations will make it worse,” Rickard said. “We need to bake suicide prevention into our education.”

Rickard was in Royal City for a two-hour talk and discussion about suicide following the death last week of Royal High School senior and athlete Silvestre Beltran.

County Commissioner Cindy Carter, a resident of Royal City, promised the meeting.

According to Rickard, around 43,000 Americans every year die by suicide, making it the tenth leading of cause of death for all ages.

However, for children under the age of 14, suicides are the third leading cause of death, while for people aged 15-34, suicide is the second leading cause of death.

And it is the number one leading cause of death for young women aged 15-19, she added.

“But it’s preventable, and there are lots of things that we could be doing,” she said.

There were seven suicides in Grant County in 2015 — the last year for which the Washington State Department of Health has statistics — down from nine the previous year, for a rate of around 8 percent, compared with the 16 percent average for Washington state.

Rickard said most people who are contemplating suicide actively plan and talk about taking their own lives as a way of reaching out to see if anyone cares enough to listen or help. Threats to “kill myself” should always be taken seriously, she said.

She added that the best way to ask someone if they are considering suicide is directly but without judgment — “Are you considering hurting yourself or are you thinking about suicide?”

Some of the signs someone might be considering suicide are: someone makes threats to hurt themselves, says they want to die, is anxious or depressed and not sleeping well, says they have no reason to live or purpose in life, reports feeling trapped, or is withdrawn and is pushing people away.

“Eighty-seven percent of people will respond honestly when asked,” she said. “If you cannot ask the question, find someone who can.”

Rickard said it’s important to listen, let the person talk, don’t rush to judgment, and get others involved. This is especially true with young people — the desire to take your own life is not a secret that should ever be kept.

“Offer hope in any form,” Rickard said. “The most important thing you can say is, ‘I want you to live. I’m on your side.’”

Rickard advised keeping guns locked away and medicine secured in order to ensure that people — particularly teenagers — couldn’t act on impulse.

Rickard said that in all people, grief is different. People need to know that it is OK to cry — even if the trauma happened months ago — and to laugh — even if the trauma is recent.

“Kids don’t know how to react, but that’s normal grief, and each person has to get their needs met in the way that makes sense to them,” she said.

She also said she was impressed by the number of counselors from Grant Integrated Services there that night, and the suicide prevention handouts she saw in the Royal Middle School bathrooms.

“I’ve never seen that in a middle school before,” she said.

“We have to show our kids how to deal with and express themselves when tragic things happen in the community,” she continued. “That’s how we teach them to be resilient.”

“Kids are talking about it anyway,” Rickard added. “With or without us.”